Magicland Dizzy:- Commodore Amiga

Hello and happy Monday to you all. I trust your week is going well my friends. I have an icon for you guys today, a trademark character that shone in the 8 and 16 bit era.

Magicland Dizzy on the Amiga

A plot? yes of course, how silly of me, here it is:-

The Evil Wizard Zaks, the primary antagonist of the series, who Dizzy defeated previously in Fantasy World Dizzy, has returned having “made certain arrangements against his premature demise”. He has cast spells on six members of the Yolkfolk, egg-shaped friends and relations of Dizzy, and transported them to Magicland. At the beginning of the game Dizzy teleports himself to Magicland and must set about lifting the spells from his friends.

Following their introduction in Fantasy World Dizzy, this game again features the Yolkfolk. Each of them has had a spell cast upon them by Zaks: Dylan is transfigured into a thorny bush; Denzil is frozen in ice; Dozy is put into an enchanted and perhaps everlasting sleep; Dora is turned into a frog; Daisy is enlarged and imprisoned inside Zaks’ Oubliette; and Grand-Dizzy trapped inside a magic mirror.

So there you have it, the plot in all it’s glory. So, how does the Amiga version fare against it’s 8 bit counterparts? Very well indeed I have to say, Dizzy’s jump into the 16 bit era has done him no harm at all. Being able to utilize the Amiga’s superior colour palette brings Dizzy to full comic book colour and his adventures become just like playing an actual cartoon rather than a game. The main sprite is as cartoon like as he always was, but now with individual colours to play with his trademark boxing gloves are now red instead of white or scenery coloured as they would have been on the 8 bit machines. The game is huge, there’s so much to see and do in this game it will keep you busy for a fair while. As with other Dizzy titles there are objects to collect that will interact with other objects to help you make progress ( power pill to get past ghosts for example, which is also a nice hat tip to Pacman ). Some puzzles are not immediately obvious and will require a little brain power to work out. The sheer scale of Magicland is lovely to behold in all it’s coloured glory and fans of the series on the 8 bit machines will love the difference a more powerful machine can add to the game experience.

Throughout the game Dizzy meets and interacts with many of Magicland’s inhabitants. These include the Queen of Hearts, the good witch Glenda and Prince Charming, along with various other creatures who can help or hinder Dizzy’s progress. During the course of the game Dizzy comes across the legendary sword Excalibur and has the opportunity to awaken Sleeping Beauty.

Dizzy has a health pool now, so it’s no longer instant death if you hit a nasty bad guy along the way, your health drains down instead. This can be replenished by finding the diamonds scattered along the way. Instant death can occur if Dizzy comes into contact with water or lava or spikes, so be careful along the way.

Graphics:- Well, this game has certainly been brought into the new era, and the new colours add so much more than the 8 bits could. The backgrounds are vibrant and well designed making for a much nicer game experience.

Sound:- Music was always the main part of a Dizzy game and this does not disappoint in any shape or form. The sound track is a nice bouncy mellow track that takes you through Magicland at a lovely pace of life. Top notch. In game sound, well there isn’t any to speak of, but then, I don’t think there really has been sound in Dizzy games on the whole anyway, and really…is it needed? I don’t think so.

Overall:- Fans of the Dizzy series from the 8 bit machines should give this a shot, I believe you’ll love it. The upgrades from a superior machine shine through and give an overall better Dizzy experience. I loved them on the 8 bit, still do, but 16 bit has the edge here.